Jamaican Maroons During the colonial era, as early as 1512, African slaves who escaped their Spanish conquerors and joined the indigenous people of lands they encountered were called “
Maroons”. The slaves who abandoned the Spanish Colonists in 1655 after the British Colonists’ occupation of Jamaica were known as the
Jamaican Maroons. These slaves who managed to escape to their freedom became independent groups who set up their own sovereign communities and coalesced into many heterogeneous groups that maintained their own limited self-government. In 1738, after major uprisings and violent raids of plantations, major sects of the Maroon communities agreed to specific treaties with the British allowing them a limited amount of autonomy and land. The strife and insurrection that led to the
First Maroon War and then to a
Second Maroon War underscored the necessity to negotiate a treaty with the rebellious Maroon society. The economic instability was a major concern for the government at that time which recognized the importance of subduing the Maroon threat.
Slavery The
Slave Trade Act 1807 where the British Parliament ended the slave trade in the United Kingdom created a new dynamic in Jamaica between the
planter class and the remaining slaves. The treatment of the estimated 300,000 slaves in Jamaica worsened as the planter class intransigently went against the British Parliament's admonishment to treat slaves in a more humane manner. In 1865 the
Morant Bay Rebellion marked a moment in Jamaican history when the dialogue between the government and the oppressed reached a fever pitch, led by Baptist deacon and activist
Paul Bogle. There was confusion between the poor black population and the Maroon population as to where the stronger Maroons' allegiance lay during the siege. It has been said that the Maroons ultimately made a decision to support the British in quelling the uprising on the premise that they wanted to stay loyal to the original treaties between the government and the early Maroon population.
John Stuart Mill's social influence on the Jamaican government system was profound because he headed the now defunct
Jamaica Committee, which helped create a necessary process of intervention on the behalf of the governed and oppressed that would put into question and challenge the necessity of excessive punitive actions against opposition; ultimately, this helped foster the growing sentiment of freedom of speech. == Politics ==